For many years, electronic systems have been designed to include a circuit board featuring one or more transmission lines. The transmission lines are routed either on its surface or integrated between selectively patterned insulation and metal layers of the circuit board. Connectors are placed on the surface of the circuit board and are appropriately connected to various transmission lines that provide signaling and power as needed.
In certain embodiments, the impedance of the connector may be unacceptably high, which may distort signals transmitted through the connector. Normally, tab capacitors can be employed to increase the capacitance of the connector and appropriately reduce the impedance of the connector. A “tab capacitor” is formed by adding additional metal to a signal line within the routing layer that is coupled to ground. Unfortunately, tab capacitors are not cost-effective and require a large amount of circuit board area.